REMEMBER NOW
Romans 5:1-8

A sermon given by the Rev. Richard H. Taylor
May 15, 2005 / Pentecost

Confirmation is in many ways like graduation. A course of instruction has been undertaken and successfully completed. The leaders of the school are ready to congratulate the students, and send them out into the world.

A graduation ceremony is usually called a commencement. Its emphasis is on what is commencing, what is beginning, what is starting. Commencements look into the future, into the great uncharted world that lies ahead. So on these weekends, right here in Rhode Island, speakers will talk to classes about their futures, about tomorrow, about what is going to come.

And confirmation is something like that. So we are here to think about the future.

But what I really want to talk about is the now.

What I have to say today is really anchored in the past.

In the Biblical book of Ecclesiastes the Preacher says, "Remember now thy creator in the days of thy youth (12.1)." I have always thought that that text includes a strange contradiction. It would make sense if we said to elderly people: "remember, remember." It would even make sense if we were talking to middle aged people, perhaps middle aged people at the point that their parents were dying, "remember, remember." But it seems strange to say to youth, it seems strange to say to young people "remember, remember." Of all the people in the world the youth have the least to remember. The younger you get the less you remember, until we get to the very youngest, and they don't remember anything at all.

So here we have five young people looking to the future; squirming in their seats, and eager for that time in the future when I will be done, and this will all be over. Here they are young people looking to the future, imagining the future, dreaming about the future, and I have the nerve to say to them "Remember!" I'll ask them, what do you remember? How many memories do you have? Do you remember word for word everything Jed and I have said to you this year? Do you remember it well enough that you could recite it to all these people if I called upon you now?

But I say to you remember!

I want to tell you, you can't survive in the world unless you remember. So while you have one eye on the future, you need to have one eye on the past. At least one eye is for remembering.

Remember what?

Remember that "While we were yet sinners Christ died for us." When you were born, God in Christ Jesus loved you, cared for you, looked after you, prayed for you, blessed you. You didn't know anything about it. Your language skills were so poor, you couldn't have understood it if we told it to you. You didn't remember that God loved you. But God did love you. Now its time to remember: God loves you.

When you were a baby you didn't know that some adults cared for you, and loved you, and fed you, and cleaned up your messes. You couldn't even remember their names. But now I say to you, remember. The Bible says "I was wonderfully knit in my mother's womb (Psalm 139:13,14)." Remember.

Remember you have been loved. Remember you have been cared for. Remember God.

But I want to say more to you. I want to say "Remember now."

Martin Luther, they tell us, used to get up every day and put his hand on his head and say, "Baptismo suo." That means "I am baptized." Every day he began his life by saying "I am baptized," I belong to God.

That is why I want you to remember now. I want you to remember today. I want you to remember you belong to God. Know where you have come from.

Now let me do the future part, let me tell you about the future. Some day in the future you are going to be around some kids your age, and they are going to want to do something stupid. I bet this will happen. Something stupid, like drink and drive, or try some dangerous drug, or try sex without protection. I bet some of these things are going to happen to you. And they will say "It's no big deal. Everybody's doing it. Go ahead."

That's when I want you to remember now, remember today. I want you to remember that you stood up in front of all these people and said you promise to resist evil. You promise to follow Jesus. So when they offer you temptation, remember now. Remember your promise, say "Not me, I have decided to follow Jesus."

And in that future out there, sometimes the temptation will come from within. Sometimes a voice in your head will say "This week has been too rough, I don't care anymore." Or sometimes a voice in your head will say "You look like a wimp or a sissy to all of them, now you'll prove it's not so." Or your voice will say, "Everyone else is getting away with it, why can't I?" That's when I want you to remember now. You stood up in front of all these people and made a promise: to seek the good way. Remember now.

And some day out in that future you may be a parent. Some day out in that future you may be in charge of someone else. Maybe soon you will be baby sitting. Or beyond that there will be a child, wholly in your care, and you will be tired, and you will be sick and tired of their screaming, and you will want to lash out and hit, and hurt, and make them suffer. Some day those emotions may be in your future. That's when I want you to remember now. Remember you stood in front of all these people and said you chose to be a follower of God. Remember now.

Remember who you are. Remember what you believe. Remember the decisions you have made. When you remember you can live with grace, and love, and truth, and service in the future. When you cease to remember you become like a little baby in a self-centered rage. What makes you mature is that you remember. What makes you an adult is that you have an inner sense of who you are.

When Jesus knew it was going to be his last night, his last meal, his last supper with his disciples, he was quiet, somber, thoughtful. He washed their feet. And then he said to them "This do in remembrance of me." He talked with them around the table. He shared his food with them. And he said "Remember." "Remember me."

We want you to sit at table and talk with friends. We want you to share your food with other people. But most of all we want you to remember. Remember who you are. Remember now. Remember Jesus.

Now you belong to Jesus. You have given your life to God. Remember.

Amen.